Here are some famous sayings, let’s see if you can finish them off: Look before you... leap. Too many cooks... spoil the broth. A stitch in time... saves nine. And the last one: Where there’s a will... You might think it’s ‘there’s a way’, but it seems that where there’s a will, there’s a lawyer.
And if not a lawyer, then certainly some kind of dispute. It’s what causes this man to interrupt Jesus as he is teaching the crowd. His dispute is brought to Jesus in verse 13. ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’
He obviously didn’t like the fact that his brother had inherited something, and he hadn’t. And so he comes to Jesus, wanting Jesus to get involved, wanting him to go and sort out his brother. Now, you might have thought that Jesus would go and sort it all out, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Jesus gives a surprising answer.
‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ It wasn’t that the two brothers came together, wanting to get things sorted out, asking Jesus for his help. This was just the one brother, wanting Jesus to force his brother to give him something. So Jesus says no. It’s nothing to do with me.
Jesus then speaks to the crowd, but he’s also speaking to this man in particular. And he issues a warning. ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
If you’ve ever been to Buckingham Palace, you’ll have seen the Guardsmen - they look about 8 feet tall, standing very straight and still in their red jackets and huge bearskin hats. It might look as if they’re just there for the tourists to watch and take photos, but they are there guarding the palace. If anyone jumped over the fence, they would spring into action to protect the Queen.
We’re told to be on our guard - against all kinds of greed. We’re to watch out for greed trying to control us. Jesus sees that this was what was going on in this man’s heart - he wanted a share of the inheritance out of greed. And so Jesus gives the warning. ‘A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
At 8am on Tuesday the 30th May, the removals team arrived at the Rectory at Lurganbrae, Brookeborough. In a couple of hours, everything we owned was packed into the back of two lorries. Our whole life was in those lorries - and then I remembered the words of Jesus: ‘A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
How easily I was believing the lie that all that stuff was the sum total of our life. How quickly greed was trying to sneak in unnoticed. We need to be on our guard against greed.
To help us grasp his point, Jesus then tells a parable - an ordinary, everyday story that teaches us something about heaven. We’re introduced to a rich farmer. It’s harvest time, and he’s been busy in the fields, gathering it all in. Things have been good this year - the weather has been perfect, so there’s a good crop. And yet, he’s faced with a problem.
His land has produced so much, his barns simply aren’t big enough. So he thinks to himself: ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ As he thinks about it, he comes up with the answer in verse 18: ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
Now you might be thinking, doesn’t that sound great? One crop big enough to retire on. A big bonus, and no more worrying about anything. A few years ago I read of a mega-rich family in England holding a retirement party for the latest person to retire from the family business - at the age of 30!
That’s the dream, isn’t it? No more working, just lying back on a tropical beach, topping up your tan. The hardest decision being whether you want vanilla or honeycomb ice cream. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. Isn’t that what life is all about? Having a good time and enjoying your wealth?
The farmer has decided on his course of action. His small barns are too small, so he’ll get rid of them. He’ll build bigger ones. So he goes and rings the builder. The builder even says that he’ll come first thing in the morning. What more could he possibly want?
The truth is, he will never see the builder coming. Despite his wealth, his riches, his prosperity, these things couldn’t save him. That very night... he dies. He never benefits from all that he had stored up. But it wasn’t an accidental death; not just a tragic coincidence; not just a twist of fate. No, God intervenes, and says to him, ‘You fool!’ This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
We might have been jealous of this man’s wealth, and his retirement plan. our opinion of him might be respect, or envy. But God’s opinion of him is ‘You fool!’ He had so much, more than he knew what to do with, and yet God counts him foolish. Why was that?
He didn’t think of God. The ground had produced a bumper crop, but the man forgot God the giver. As we’ve already sung this evening. ‘All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, so thank the Lord for all his love.’ Everything we have comes from God. Yet how many of us realise and remember to thank God?
We might remember tonight as we come to the Harvest Thanksgiving, but what about the rest of the year? Are we mindful of how God has blessed us? We would always make sure to thank someone who gives us a birthday present or does something for us - what about God, who gives us everything?
He didn’t think of God, who gives us life. The man says to himself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years’ yet he didn’t have many years. He forgot that God gives us life, and each one of our days. As James writes, ‘Come now, you who say “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”’ (James 4:13-15).
He didn’t think about God, who sits on the judgement seat. His wealth mattered little before God - he may have been wealthy, but as Jesus says, he was not rich toward God. Millions of pounds in the bank, and yet bankrupt before God.
Not only did the man fail to love God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength (and his purse and his possessions), we also find that he failed to love his neighbour as himself. Do you remember what he said when faced with his problem? ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.’
He has no regard for his neighbour; no thought for those who have nothing; doesn’t consider sharing or giving away even the bit that wouldn’t fit into his barn. Everything is for himself.
So what about us? Are we selfish in storing up what we have for ourselves? Or do we remember those in need? Remember that what we have has been given to us by God, for his purposes, rather than our own private pursuits?
Now you might be thinking to yourself - I have no bumper crop; compared to those around me, I’m poor. Maybe the sermon is only for the richest people here, and the rest of us are of the hook. But in the grand scheme of things, when we look at the world, we are the rich! We are those with plenty, yet we keep all for ourselves and our comfort and pleasure.
Because of that, all of us are in danger of being called a fool by God. As Jesus says in the last verse: ‘This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.’ Just like the man, we can be rich, and yet not rich towards God. But how do we stop being foolish? How do we become rich towards God?
The truth is that each one of us is bankrupt towards God. We have no credit, no merit, nothing going in our favour. Instead, there’s a big (and ever increasing) list of debts. Every sin has been listed. Our debt is growing. We could never repay it.
Yet the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the perfect life, committed no sin, and then gave his life to pay for our sins. As Jesus died on the cross, he satisfied the debt of our sins - as we read in Colossians 2: ‘He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.’ (Col 2:13-14).
Paul is saying that it’s a bit like going into a shop with a bill. When you pay the bill, it’s taken, and placed on the nail. It’s been paid for, the debt is cancelled. It’s the same with our sins. Jesus has cancelled our debt towards God through his perfect sacrifice for our sins, which is credited to our account when we trust in him.
There’s an old gospel chorus which puts it so well: He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace the whole day long, for Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.
But even more than just our debts being cleared; the Lord Jesus also gives us his blessings, he credits our account, and gives us so much more than we deserve. Paul tells us in Ephesians that all these blessings from ‘the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us’ (Eph 1:7-8). Later they are described as the ‘immeasurable riches of the grace’ (Eph 2:7) and the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Eph 3:8). By ourselves, we cannot store up treasure in heaven – we are poor and bankrupt when it comes to the Bank of Heaven. But Jesus offers us the riches of his grace, and provides the means for us to have treasure in heaven.
Perhaps this evening you are realising your poverty towards God - I invite you to receive the Lord Jesus, to depend on him for rescue from your debt. In him, you will find all the riches of his grace.
Perhaps you are a Christian, but you’ve been pursuing wealth on earth rather than storing up treasure in heaven. That’s like depending on Monopoly money for your fortune. Turn again and find in Christ all that you need.
And please, as you leave this church tonight, don’t be a fool.
This sermon was preached at the Harvest Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Friday 29th September 2017.
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